Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, XLIII: "covering the war"
you, a reporter
hide behind the headlines
of deaths and famine ...
I mourn this Dead-Sea-wide chasm
bombed out by your contextless words
beware, beware
of my hunger and anger
as airstrikes rage
I drop fake-news-busting wordbombs
on the spokesmen for Israel
FYI: Ls 1&2 of the second tanka allude to the last stanza of one of the most read/popular Palestinian poems, "Identity Card," written by Mahmoud Darwish, poet of Palestinian resistance (1941-2008) and author of The Butterfly Effect, 2008, who died believing in the power of his poetry to make a difference.
Therefore!
Write down on the top of the first page:
I do not hate people
Nor do I encroach
But if I become hungry
The usurper's flesh will be my food
Beware ...
Beware ...
Of my hunger
And my anger!
The following is one of my favorite remarks on poetry:
Previously, I believed that poetry was a form of combat, but today I don't think that it has an immediate task. Its influence is very slow, cumulative.
And The Hill, April 1: Israel’s government passes law to temporarily shut down Al Jazeera
Israel’s legislature passed a law Monday paving the way to shut down the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news network, under legislation allowing for the temporary ban of foreign news networks that the government deems a threat to national security.
The law passed Israel’s Knesset 71-10 in its second and third reading in the Knesset plenum...
But the Biden administration said it was concerned over the Israeli passage of the law.
“We’ve seen the reports and certainly I’m going to refer to Israel for what they may or may not be considering. But if it is true, a move like this is concerning. We believe in the freedom of the press. It is critical. It is critically important,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday.
